This Month

The End of Campus Radio in Ontario?
The Ontario Government's Student Choice Initiative has the potential to devestate campus radio stations and many other student organizations across the province. By Alexandra Rimmington

Balanced has grown since being a small Canadian prairie imprint boasting alternative sounds with broken beat, down tempo, hip hop excursions and now including more house music. A lot of the guidance for this compilation is from Solidaze. His many monikers span across musical genres but one that sticks out from the Balanced catalog is his DJ mixed album Solidaze Sessions by his own alias Duende. It’s a look into the local Winnipeg scene of deep house plus exclusive samples from the Summit of the America’s in Quebec City in 2001. Much like that energetic and thought provoking offering Traffic lends your ear to the newer sounds of the Balance team and the artists they have worked with recently.

Some new comers, but still part of the group are Leaf System (Rise Ashen, Kasm & The Seed Organization) They were originally featured on Link Pins with Rocket Dub and Fisherman's Dub but here we get to hear the newly revamped version with a more floor friendly dubbed out roots remix by Rise Ashen. Moses Mayes steps into a new realm with their Being remixed by Solidaze. The track is a beautifully crafted journey into deep house with a lovely Sade esque vocal swooning over the melodies. For those who are unfamiliar with Moses Mayes they are and continue to be a crowd friendly funkband spreading the word of soul and party vibes with each of their shows and even nowadays side project LaBeato with members from Moses Mayes;Grant Paley, Nathan Reimer & Mark Penner they now delivery floor filling house with a signature pounding beats that’s worth tossing your arms in the air every once in awhile. Another well known name in the house world is Miguel Graca. As a Portuguese descendent his musical tastes landed him into a great label called Bombay and even to this day his timeless classics are still hitting the speakers and airwaves from many a DJ. He rerubs Rise Ashen’sA Warning!. This spectacular arrangement of deep drumming and soulful vocal stabs warms anybody to get up and shuffle your feet to these sounds.

A favorite of mine from the past Anti Animosity has a wonderful vocal by Sarah Michaelson. Long time fans of Nordic Trax release will enjoy the styles Gavin Froome has to show and he doesn’t hold back here. The walking bass line and uplifting groove carries on through a warm and bold array of keys floating onto each chorus line. Not to leave out Solidaze from all the praise but you can imagine all the following house sounds and production values and you have just soaked up and the exact precision that will emerge from Solidaze as well. By far out of all the solo efforts here Flight Response will grab your attention and stick in your head for a long time. The Bill Withers sampled guitar lick coats the funk fueled track with some soothing tribal drumming and tempered chords merge along to coast you along the Latin influenced groove right till the end. Always a pleasure to hear any Balanced records artist/DJ performs leaving you to get all the interesting and enjoyable efforts from their catalogue.

Features: August 2019

The End of Campus Radio in Ontario?
The Ontario Government's Student Choice Initiative has the potential to devestate campus radio stations and many other student organizations across the province. By Alexandra Rimmington

Features: July 2019

The End of Campus Radio in Ontario?
The Ontario Government's Student Choice Initiative has the potential to devestate campus radio stations and many other student organizations across the province. By Alexandra Rimmington

Features: June 2019

The End of Campus Radio in Ontario?
The Ontario Government's Student Choice Initiative has the potential to devestate campus radio stations and many other student organizations across the province. By Alexandra Rimmington

Follow our look back at 2018

The definitive list of the best records of 2018 - including electronic, hip hop, international, jazz, loud and folk roots & blues.

Best of 2018

Full Best of 2018 lists from Programmers and Contributors

Jazz Notes
Jim Dupuis, !earshot contributor and host of Jazz Notes on Kamloops' CFBX give you his Best of Jazz for 2018

Broken Glass
Myles Gregory, host of Broken Gass on CFBX Kamloops, brings you the best of Punk, Hardcore and other heavy sounds for 2018.

Bravery, Repetition & Noise
Mike Taggert, host of
Bravery, Repetition & Noise on CHSR Fredericton, brings you the best of garage rock, noise pop, shoegaze, freak-folk and more with an Atlantic Canadian sprin.

Something to Write Home About
Sean Warkentine, Music Director at CKXU in Lethbridge Alberta and host of Something to Write Home About on the best music of 2018.

Features: May 2019

The End of Campus Radio in Ontario?
The Ontario Government's Student Choice Initiative has the potential to devastate campus radio stations and many other student organizations across the province. By Alexandra Rimmington

Follow our look back at 2018

The definitive list of the best records of 2018 - including electronic, hip hop, international, jazz, loud and folk roots & blues.

Best of 2018

Full Best of 2018 lists from Programmers and Contributors

Jazz Notes
Jim Dupuis, !earshot contributor and host of Jazz Notes on Kamloops' CFBX give you his Best of Jazz for 2018

Broken Glass
Myles Gregory, host of Broken Gass on CFBX Kamloops, brings you the best of Punk, Hardcore and other heavy sounds for 2018.

Bravery, Repetition & Noise
Mike Taggert, host of
Bravery, Repetition & Noise on CHSR Fredericton, brings you the best of garage rock, noise pop, shoegaze, freak-folk and more with an Atlantic Canadian sprin.

Something to Write Home About
Sean Warkentine, Music Director at CKXU in Lethbridge Alberta and host of Something to Write Home About on the best music of 2018.